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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Mucosal Immunity
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1469077
This article is part of the Research Topic The Causal Association and Mechanism between Oral Inflammatory Diseases and Systemic Diseases View all articles

Crosstalk between periodontitis and cardiovascular risk

Provisionally accepted
  • 1 RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
  • 2 University Hospital Jena, Jena, Thuringia, Germany
  • 3 University Hospital RWTH Aachen, Aachen, Germany

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Recent demographic developments resulted in an aged society with a rising disease burden of systemic and non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In cardiovascular disease (CVD), a NCD with high morbidity and mortality, recent preventive strategies include the investigation of comorbidities to reduce its significant economic burden. Periodontal disease, an oral bacterial-induced inflammatory disease of tooth-supporting tissue, is regulated in its prevalence and severity by the individual host response to a dysbiotic oral microbiota. Clinically, both NCDs are highly associated; however, shared risk factors such as smoking, obesity, type II diabetes mellitus and chronic stress represent only an insufficient explanation for the multifaceted interactions of both disease entities. Specifically, the crosstalk between both diseases is not yet fully understood. This review summarizes current knowledge on the clinical association of periodontitis and CVD, and elaborates on how periodontitis-induced pathophysiological mechanisms in patients may contribute to increased cardiovascular risk with focus on atherosclerosis. Clinical implications as well as current and future therapy considerations are discussed. Overall, this review supports novel scientific endeavors aiming at improving the quality of life with a comprehensive and integrated approach to improve well-being of the aging populations worldwide.

    Keywords: Periodontitis, cardiovascular disease, innate immunity, Inflammation, Dysbiosis

    Received: 23 Jul 2024; Accepted: 06 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Noels, Schulze-Späte, Wurschi, Van Der Vorst, Hölzle, Bastos Craveiro and Wolf. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Heidi Noels, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, 52056, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
    Ulrike Schulze-Späte, University Hospital Jena, Jena, 07743, Thuringia, Germany

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